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Fight to save stranded whales

Around 80 whales, thought to have been false killer whales, now identified as long-finned pilot whales, are stranded along the coastline of Hamelin Bay, WA.

Rescue crews and volunteers have been working throughout the day to transport the whales to Flinders Bay from Hamelin Bay where they were discovered in a mass stranding on Monday morning.

More than 70 long-finned pilot whales died on Monday, while a further three perished overnight after a group of more than 80 whales and dolphins beached near Hamelin Bay on Western Australia's south coast.

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Department of Environment and Conservation Incident Controller Greg Mair said the condition of one of the surviving 11 whales had deteriorated throughout the day before environment officers shot it with a high-powered weapon on Tuesday afternoon.

"The whale had sustained significant trauma as a result of the stranding and was in a very poor condition and a highly distressed state, becoming separated from the main pod," Mr Mair said in a statement.

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"In addition to the importance of ensuring the most humane outcome for the individual animal, one of the most important considerations was reducing the likelihood of negatively affecting the rest of the pod."

The whales are being loaded onto trucks to be transported to Flinders Bay. Photo: Tessa Dornan.

"At the last sighting, the other 10 whales appeared to be moving into deeper waters," he said.

"Aerial surveillance to monitor progress of the other 10 whales and to check beaches for other possible strandings will continue tomorrow."

Department of Environment and Conservation (DEC) Incident Controller Greg Mair said local sea rescue groups and a number of people on surf skis and boards were helping to move the remaining whales into deeper waters.

"DEC will continue to monitor the progress of all the animals using aerial surveillance to check local beaches and assist with that process today and tomorrow."

Earlier today the surviving long-finned pilot whales were being trucked to Flinders Bay on the east side of Cape Leeuwin, 330km from Perth, where waters are calmer.

"There is a likelihood that if ... one comes back in the others will follow it.

"So we're obviously trying to do our best in terms of guiding the whales back out again and we're using jet-skis, surfboards and boats to try and do that."

The department's marine mammal expert Doug Coughran said the marine environment was challenging.

"We're in an area that's basically like a corral, there's an outer reef, and a small gap to get them through," he told ABC radio.

A total of 92 long-finned whales and five dolphins were involved in the stranding.

Eight, including four dolphins, were pushed back out to sea yesterday.

The department had closed beach areas from Hamelin Bay to Boranup North Point while carcasses are cleared.

The whales, which are up to six metres long and weigh 3.5 tonnes, were lifted into slings and trucked individually over the 20km journey.

Ms Sinclair said it was expected the operation would take all day.

"It is quite a slow process but we do have five trucks," Ms Sinclair said.

"We're just working through it and we're just hoping that by (the middle of the day) that we'll have all of them trucked to Flinders, then it will take all afternoon for the release to move on from there."

The whales seemed to be quite calm, officers said, despite the traumatic events.

Up to 70 volunteers and department officers stayed with the whales throughout the night after several separate pods of the whales, spread over a six-kilometre stretch, were put in to a safe holding area.

It would be sunset before the full pod of whales was returned to the sea, the DEC said.